Starfish, a species of Echinoderm, is widely known as a predator on benthic invertebrate. A series of fishing experiments was carried out in the western coastal waters of Korea from September, 2011 to November, 2012, using the drum–shaped pots of different mesh sizes (17.1, 24.8, 35.3, 39.8, and 48.3 ㎜) to describe the composition of the catch species and the mesh selectivity of the pot for starfish. Some species including fish, crab, and starfish were caught in the experimental pots. The SELECT (Share Each Length’s Catch Total) method was applied to describe the selectivity of the pot for starfish Asterina pectinifera. The master selection curve was estimated to be s(R) = exp(10.358R–4.086) / [1+exp(10.358R–4.086)], where R is the ratio of arm length to mesh size. The relative arm length of 50% retention was 0.395, and the selection range was 0.212. The results should be helpful to understand the relationship between the catch size of starfish and the mesh size of pot.

Experiment was set up to analyze bycatch and discards situation including snow crap Chionoecetes opilio of whelk trap. Four types of trap were used: drum type trap with PE net; drum type trap with PBS net; cylinder type trap with PE net; and cylinder type net with PBS net. Three funnels were attached in drum type trap and two funnels were used in cylinder type trap. A fleet of traps was consisted with one hundred traps. 25 traps of each type were set on a line in repeated sequence. Field experiments were conducted with 6 fishing operations in the Uljin waters, East Sea in July 2014. Catch of target whelks were 173,261 g and catch rate was 48.7% of total catch, while bycatch were 182,571 g, 51.3% of tatal catch. The catch rate of bycatch was 2.6% higher than that of target catch. Bycatch weight of snow crap was the highest as 142,987 g and formed about 40.2% of total catch, followed giant octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, 31,762 g (8.9%). Bycatch rate of cylinder type trap was 2.3 times higher than that of drum type trap. Discard rate (discard/(discard+landing)) was 43.6%. Discard rate was the highest at cylinder type trap with PBS net as 63.1%, followed cylinder type trap with PE net as 47.9%, drum type trap with PE net as 33.4%, the lowest at drum type trap with PBS net as 22.1%.

This study was conducted to investigate the attractant substances of different solvent fractions of mackerel and tuna viscera. Mackerel and tuna viscera were extracted with methanol and the resultant were fractionated with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water. The chemical compounds such as free amino acid, fatty acid, nucleotide related compounds contents were estimated for mackerel, tuna viscera and various fractions. These fractions were also subjected to attracting experiments in water tank to estimate attracting effects. The aqueous fractions of mackerel and tuna viscera showed the highest attraction effect on swimming crab. The major chemical compounds of the aqueous fractions were histidine, taurine, cysteine, glutamic acid, inosine monophosphate (IMP) and inosine (HxR) for mackerel and arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic aid, alanine, IMP and hypoxanthin (Hx). Results indicated that higher polarity compounds, such as amino acid and nucleotide related compounds have higher attraction activities than nonpolar substances such as neutral lipid.

Finely-striate buccinum Buccinum striatissimum, a species of whelks, is caught mainly by pot in the eastern coastal waters of Korea. In order to determine the size selectivity of pot for the species, comparative fishing experiments were conducted near Yeongil Bay from June to September in 2003 using the dome-shaped pots with different five mesh sizes (17.1, 24.8, 35.3, 39.8, and 48.3 mm). The parameters of logistic equation were estimated by the SELECT (Share Each Length’s Catch Total) method based on a multinomial distribution. The model with the estimated split parameter was found to fit the catch data best. The master selection curve was estimated to be s (R)=exp (13.044R－16.438)/[1 + exp (13.044R－16.438)], where R is the ratio of shell height to mesh size. The relative shell height of 50% retention was 1.260, and the selection range was 0.168. Enlargement in mesh size of the pot allows more small-sized whelks to escape.

To investigate the catching efficiency of a biodegradable round trap for a swimming crab (Portunus trituberculatus), four types of material (two types of biodegradable net, one type of biodegradable plus polyethylene net and one type of polyethylene net) for traps were used in the field test, and the field tests were carried out 11 times in the Boryeong fishing ground of Korea, 2012∼2013. The catching efficiency of four type traps was analyzed by catch per trap, weight per trap and mean weight per individual of small and large size swimming crab. Statistical Kruskal-Wallis test was carried out to verify the significant difference for the efficiency between types of material. The catch in number of swimming crab was 9,015 and formed about 94.3% of total catch. In the results of catching efficiency of traps, there was a little difference in catch per trap, weight per trap and mean weight per individual of swimming crab in-situ data. But there was no significant difference in catching efficiency between the biodegradable traps and the PE trap (P>0.05), so it’s needed to use widely a biodegradable trap for the conservation and sustainable management of swimming crab resources.

Fishing experiments were carried out in the adjacent sea of Yeongil Bay, the eastern cost of Korea from 2003 to 2004 using the dome-shaped pots with different five mesh sizes (17.1, 24.8, 35.3, 39.8, and 48.3mm) in order to determine the size selectivity of pots for the whelk, Buccinum opisthoplectum. The catch species were composed of Buccinum opisthoplectum (45.4%), Buccinum striatissimum (30.1%), Pandalopsis japonica (9.3%), Chionoecetes opilio (8.9%), and so on. The shell height (l) of Buccinum opisthoplectum caught in the experimental fishing pots was measured. The SELECT (Share Each Length's Catch Total) analysis method was applied with fishing data to obtain master selection curve. The model with the estimated split parameter was found to fit the catch data best. The master selection curve was estimated to be s (R)〓exp (7.833R-10.871)/[1 + exp (7.833R-10.871], where R is the ratio of shell height to mesh size. The relative shell length for 50% retention was 1.388, and the selection range was 0.281. It means that the pots of larger mesh size allow more whelks of small size to escape.

Species composition and seasonal variation of aquatic organism in the coastal waters off Taean, Korea were investigated using catches by commercial fishing of the pot and gill net from April 2010 to January 2011. A total of 58 species, 10,602 individuals and 547,569g of aquatic organism were collected during the study. Aquatic organism were composed of 22 species of Pisces, 20 species of Crustacea, 8 species of Gastropoda, 3 species of Echinodea, 2 species of Cephalopoda and Bivalvia, and 1 species of Holothuroidea. 41 species in 9 orders and 22 families were collected by the pot, and 28 species in 15 orders and 22 families were collected by the gill net. Volutharpa ampullacea was the most dominant in the pot, while Okamejei kenojei was the most dominant in the gill net. These two species accounted for 73.9% in the number of individuals, and 64.4% in biomass. The number of species was high in spring in the pot, and autumn in the gill net. The number of individuals and biomass were highest in winter and summer respectively in the pot, and summer in the gill net. The number of species of the consignment quantity caught by commercial fishery of the pot and gill net in Mohang was 12 and 14 respectively. Cluster analysis based on species composition of the 18 most common species showed that the species were separated into 3 different group. Group A was composed of species which were abundant in spring, group B was composed of species which were abundant in summer and autumn, and group C was composed of year-round residents.

For the optimal design of a shrimp pot to control the catch size and to reduce catch the small size shrimp, tank experiments were carried out to study the pot stability under water. Tank experiments were carried out to measure the drag with 4 kinds of model pots that have 50% selection on the individual of 25mm carapace length. The drag of each pot was measured every 10 times with changing the current speeds from 0.1m/s to 0.7m/s in 0.1m/s intervals and the pot attack angle from 0˚ to 90˚ in 15˚ interval in a flume tank. The relation between the current speed and drag was presented. The stability of pot was estimated using the drag data and the friction data of Kim et al. (2008b). The results showed that, the drag was shown lower as small as the projected area of pot depending on the current speeds and angles. The model pots were showed to slide on the seabed in case of rock at the current speeds 0.35-0.38m/s and the possibility of turn over at the current speeds 0.77-0.89m/s. In conclusion, the stability of a shrimp pot showed more stable as the pot of the lower the height and the smaller projected area on current.

In this study, the entrapped number is investigated on the UV light with different illuminance to fluorescent bait cage for swimming crab in order to find the appropriate illuminance which has the best attraction effect of fluorescent bait cage for pots. In addition, preference to the light, arrival time and residence time at light area are compared and analyzed to fluorescent bait cage and non-fluorescent bait cage for American lobster at the UV light and ordinary light according to the illuminance condition. Pot with red non-fluorescent bait cage at the no lighting (<0.01lux), pot with blue fluorescent bait cage at the 20W UV lighting (0.16lux) and pot with blue fluorescent bait cage at the 30W UV lighting (0.22lux) were soaked for 6 hours and the entrapped number of swimming crab was examined. The mean entrapped number of swimming crab in pot with red non-fluorescent bait cage at the no lighting (<0.01lux) was 1.0, but the mean entrapped number of swimming crab in pot with blue fluorescent bait cages at the 20W UV lighting (0.16lux) and 30W UV lighting (0.22lux) were 1.4 and 0.4, respectively (P<0.05). The rate of preference to the blue fluorescent bait cage at the UV lighting shows 1.6-4.8 times higher than that of preference to the red non-fluorescent bait cage at the ordinary lighting. In addition, The rate of preference to the blue fluorescent bait cage at the UV lighting is higher when the illuminance of ordinary light is same as or is lower than that of UV light (P<0.05). However, the preference to the light depending on gender shows no significant difference (P>0.05). The arrival time to UV light area of lobster is shown as 1.2-2.4 times faster than that to ordinary light area. Generally, it is shown that arrival time to UV light area is faster than the arrival time to ordinary light area when the illuminance of ordinary light is the same as or lower than that of UV light (P<0.05). However, arrival time to the light area depending on gender shows no significant difference (P>0.05). The residence time at UV light area of lobster is 1.2-1.7 times longer than that at ordinary light area. The residence time depending on different illuminance of ordinary light and genders showed no significant difference (P>0.05).

The investigation for the catch and species composition in the deep sea of the East Sea was done to search marine organisms using some kinds of traps with small commercial fishing vessel near Goseong, Korea from 2008 to 2009. The experiments was carried out with some different traps at the depth of 200m, 400m, 700m and 1,000m. In 2008, the amount of catch with rectangular, cone and drum net traps was 91.4kg with twelve trips and the proportion of catch with rectangular and cone traps was high. Dominant species caught were Aniwan whelk (57%), snow crab (12%), hunchback sculpin (7%) and red snow crab (5%). The catch of Aniwan whelk was done well with rectangular and cone traps at the depth of 700-1,000m. Snow crab was mainly caught with rectangular and cone traps at the shallower depth of 200m, while red snow crab caught a lot with cone trap at the deeper depth of 700m. In 2009, the amount of catch with rectangular, cone and round traps was 92.4kg with nine trips. The proportion of catch with round trap was higher than that with cone trap. Dominant species caught were snow crab (67.1%), Aniwan whelk (14.8%) and northern shrimp (9.8%). Snow crab was caught well with round trap at the depth less than 400m.

For an effective management of fisheries resources, it is very important that to make clean inhabitation environment and to preserve fisheries resources. The material which is mainly used as fishing gear in modern times, is polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, etc., chemical fiber. And lost fishing gears which are make of these, occur ghost fishing and ocean pollution. To solve these problem, we development biodegradable fishing trap using the polybutylene succinate (PBS). Developed traps are for red snow crab (Chionoecetes japonicus) and shrimp, major traps in the East Sea, and we carried out fishing research using two kind traps in the coastal sea of Ayajin-port (Goseong) to analysis fishing efficiency of PE trap and PBS trap. As a result for fishing experiment (year 2005-2006) of red snow crab trap, two kind traps were almost the same in catches and length composition. During a experiment, parts of meshes, used for over 1 year, were cut by biodegradation. As a result for fishing experiment (year 2007) of shrimp trap, northern shrimp (Pandalus eous), coonstripe shrimp (Pandalus hypsinotus) and morotoge shrimp (Pandalopsis japonica) were catched, and the almost is northern shrimp. Two kind traps were almost the same in catches and length composition. In accordance with these result, it is recommended that the developed traps are have to commercialized because the fishing powers of PE traps and PBS traps were same. But biodegradation speed is have to controled in consideration of ocean microorganism volume and traps life.

Test fishing was carried out using six kinds of different mesh sizes (20, 22, 24, 28, 35, 40mm) for springnet-pot to study bycatches according to the mesh size and catches survey was done for another one (mesh size : 22mm, entrance round : 350mm) in Geo-je & Tong-young waters of Korea. On the first sea experiment, it was thought that suitable mesh size of spring-net-pot catching conger-eel over 35cm with decreasing the catches of conger-eel (Conger myriaster) below 35cm was 24mm. On the second sea experiment, commercial catches were crabs (Charybdis bimaculata), octopus minor (Octopus variabilis) and others including conger-eel, and catches proportion was 60% of total catches weights. There was no big difference for the monthly catches. Self-consumption catches were 9 species including conger-eel below 35cm holding 50% of catches in the side of weights. There were 40% of bycatches for the catches weights and 63% for catches numbers in the 22mm mesh size of spring-net-pot having entrance round over 140mm. It showed that 50% of catches weights were discarded.

Recently, Fishermen have required to expand the circumference of trap entrance for conger eel because it was difficult to take the catch out as well as to put the baits into. A series of fishing experiments was carried out in coastal areas of Tongyoung, Korea in 2008 and 2009 using the traps to describe the effect of the entrance size on the catch. The experimental traps (five types) were used in filed experiments with four types circumference size traps (140, 180, 220 and 260mm) with mesh size 22mm and another type was used the same one usually using in filed with mesh size 35mm (750mm circumference). The experiment results were, the conger eels of total length 35mm more or so were caught 85, 93, 142 and 176 individual by the experiment traps with mesh size 22mm as increase circumference size from 140mm to 260mm, respectively. And the small conger eels of the total length below 35mm to be prohibited to catch by law were caught 145, 160, 288 and 304 individual according to increase the circumference size of trap, respectively. In addition, in case of the trap with mesh size 22mm, bycatches were 230 - 260 individuals and much more than bycatches of the trap with mesh size 35mm. In conclusion, when we expand the circumference size of trap according to fishermen's requirement, we should review not only economic of fishery but also increasement the bycatch of non-target fishes and small size fishes.

In order to design the optimal escape vent for the coon strip shrimp pot, the tank experiments were conducted with the model pot of five different slit height and slit width, respectively. The optimal height and width of escape vent were determined to 20mm and 40mm by tank experiments, respectively. These were determined by the 50% selection carapace length which was denoted to 25mm in selectivity curve. The escape experiments were conducted to determine a number of escape vent with the original shrimp pot to be set the designed escape vent from 2 vents to 10 vents increasing at intervals of 2 vents in tank. The optimal number of escape vents denoted 8 vents. Therefore, to apply the escape vent in commercial shrimp pot will be efficient to reduce small size shrimps to catch.

According to the recent statistics of marine casualties in Korea, fishing boats are more likely to be ended in the casualties, and small fishing boats especially cause much more accidents in sinking and capsizing than any other big vessels. These casualties were mainly produced from the ignorance on the lack of own ship stability. From this view, this study aims to analyze the characteristics of stability on the crab trap fishing boat receiving transverse wave by means of carrying out the water tank test. The rolling angle of the model ship was affected largely with the displacement and the wave period of it, and the trends were shown that the magnitude of the angle was proportional to the displacement, but inversely to the wave period. And the wave height had effect on the rolling angle just in the specific range of the wave period. The force of steady wind didn't have influence on the rolling variation significantly.

Cast fishing gear needs some time for fishing progress, and catches and their composition by submerged time can change by several cause. Therefore, it is very importance to study fishing capacity of fishing gear by submerged time. This study is to investigate catches and their composition of shrimp trap, that is used in the coastal of the East Sea, and to find the fittest lifting time of trap. Experimental term are September 2006 and August 2007, the location is the coastal of Oho, Goseong, Gangwondo, Korea and one hundred trap is used at each casting and lifting of gear. For convenience of description, survey of 2006 and 2007 are dented as experimental code 1 and 2, and submerged time 21hr, 43hr and 66hr are dented as code A, B and C. The result of obtained from the above approach are summarized as follows: Many Northern shrimps(Pandalus eous), dominated 96.36%, are only catched in experimental code A, and in code B and C, some of coonstripe shrimp(Pandalus hypsinotus) and few morotoge shrimp(Pandalopsis japonica) are catched. CPUE of code 1A, 1B and 1C per trap were 21.67g, 29.51g and 28.48g, and those of code 2A, 2B and 2C per trap were 25.44g, 32.93g and 33.36g. Therefore, 24.66% of catch increased according as submerged time passes from 1 day to 2 days, and almost no change of catch was to be -1.1%. Carapace length of code 1A, 1B and 1C were 23.77mm, 25.00mm and 25.57mm, and those of code 2A, 2B and 2C per trap were 23.83mm, 24.95mm and 25.45mm. Thus, the more submerged time is, the less catch of small fish is and the more catch of large fish is. Consequently, fit lifting time of shrimp trap is after 2 days, and if considered trouble of fishing gear and condition of catch, the fittest lifting time is the third successive day of casting date.

In order to develop the substitutive materials for natural baits of swimming crab pots, the attracting effects of swimming crab such as the preference of baits which were made of the by-products of marine and stock raising through the water tank experiments and fishing experiments. On the investigation of mean entrapped catch number to the pot by the baits after putting the 4 kinds of baits, mackerel(M), mackerel with grinded mackerel s internals(MMI), mackerel with tuna s internalsMMI) and makerel with grinded krill(MK) each in one pot by turns, MMI and MK were entrapped mean 3.9(13.0%) and they were a little more comparing to M, and MTI is least with mean 2.1(7.0%)(F=12.913, P 〈 0.05). Otherwise, on the preference investigation of swimming crabs by the baits after putting the 4 kinds of baits in the 4 pots each, M was entrapped mean 3.0(10%), but MMI, MTI and MK were mean 1.2(4.0%), 1.0(3.3%) and 1.5(5.0%) each and they were only 30-50% of M(F=13.398, P 〈 0.05). On the preference investigation of swimming crabs by the 5 kinds of baits, mackerel(M), and krill(K), manila clam(MC), pig s fat(PF) and chicken s head(CH) which were used in substitutive baits, M was entrapped mean 3.2(10.7%), but K was about 50% of catch of M with mean 1.6(5.3%), and MC, PF and CH were very few with mean 0.1-0.2(0.3-0.7%)(F=89.186, P 〈 0.05). On the preference investigation of swimming crabs by the pots which were put each the 3 kinds of baits, original krill(K), grinded krill with gluten and soybean oil cake(KGGS) and grinded krill with gluten, soybean oil cake and glycine(KGGSGL) in the blue fluorescent hexahedral plastic bait cages(BF), and which were put the mackerel(M) in the non-fluorescent hexahedral red plastic bait cage(RFN), it was entrapped mean 3.0(10.0%) in the pot which was put the mackerel in the RFN, and the same level in the pots which were put the K and KGGSGL in the BF, but it was mean 2.0(6.7%) in the pots which was put the KGGS in BF and it was decreased by 30% of catch comparing to RFN(F=3.750, P 〈 0.05). On the preference investigation of swimming crab by the pots which was put grinded tuna with gluten, soybean oil cake and glycine(TIGSGL) in the blue fluorescent hexahedral plastic bait cage(BF), and which was put mackerel(M) in the nonfluorescent hexahedral red plastic bait cage(RFN), it was entrapped mean 3.3(11.0%) in the pot which was put mackerel in RFN, and mean 2.7(9.0%) in the pot which was put TIGSGL in BF and it was about 15% less comparing to use bait M(t=1.387, P 〈 0.05). As a results of fishing experiments, a plan for enhancing catching efficiency of TIGSGL will be required because catching efficiency of TIGSGL, alternative bait, was half of fish catching efficiency of natural bait using mackerel. Fishing experiments were conducted 3 times using reinforced substitutive artificial bait that is reinforced attractive effect of TIGSGL and composed of tuna intestine, grinded mackerel, gluten, soybean cake, glycine and alanine(TIMGGSGLA). Catching efficiency of TIMGGSGLA was about 80% of that of natural bait made of mackerel.

In this study, the effect of slope length and angle at the entrance to fishing pots on the size of captured shrimp was examined to determine the optimal design of pots for use in Hokkaido, Japan. The purpose of the current study was to optimize the design of shrimp pots to allow greater control over the size of captured individuals for the purposes of shrimp resource management. Tank experiments were conducted to determine the optimal slope length and slope angle by analyzing the sizes of shrimp entering 10 model pots with combinations of five different slope lengths on slope angle of current shrimp pot, and five different angles on slope length of current shrimp pot. The results showed that, as the slope length of the pot increased, the size of individuals which entered the pot increased. In addition, as the slope angle was elevated in each of the five different slope angle treatments, the size of individuals entering was also increased.

In order to develop the substitutive materials for natural baits of swimming crab pots, the fluorescent characteristics of the baits were analyzed, and the preference of fluorescent dyes were investigated by the mean entrapped catch number to the pots through the water tank experiments and fishing experiments. On the investigation of fluorescent characteristics by the 5 kinds of baits, mackerel, krill, manila clam, pig's fat and chicken's head which were used in substitutive baits for test in the UV long wave(365nm) area, it showed clear blue fluorescence in the skin of mackerel, shell of krill, manila clam and bill of chicken's head, and green fluorescence in the mackerel s muscle and internals, and yellow fluorescence in the pig's fat and chicken's head. On the investigation of fluorescent characteristics by the bait cages in the UV short wave(254nm) and long wave(365nm) area, it showed each green, red and blue fluorescence in the cylinderical or hexahedral red plastic bait cages which were painted each green, red and blue fluorescence dyes, but it showed yellowish green flourescence in the cylinderical or hexahedral red plastic bait cage which was painted yellow fluorescent dye. On the preference investigation of the fluorescent dyes of swimming crabs by the 5 kinds of the bait cages which were put the mackerel in the non-fluorescent red plastic cage(RFN), red, yellow, green and blue fluorescent plastic cages(RF, YF, GF, BF) each, nonfluorescent red plastic cage(RFN) was entrapped mean 2.0(6.7%), but blue fluorescent plastic cage(BF) was mean 5.0(16.7%) and it was more 2.5 times comparing to RFN, and red fluorescent cage(RF) was same level and green fluorescent cage(GF) was 50% of catch number comparing to RFN, and yellow fluorescent cage(YF) was entrapped nothing(F 46.324, P 〈 0.05). On the investigation of the entrapped catch number to the pots which were put the mackerel in the blue fluorescent hexahedral plastic cage(HP) and blue fluorescent silicon mackerel model cage(SM), HP was mean 3.4(11.3%) and it was a little more comparing to SM which was entrapped mean 3.2(10.7%)(t 0.775, P 〉 0.05). Fishing experiments on the preference investigation of swimming crabs by the pots which were put in the non-fluorescent red plastic cage(RFN) and blue fluorescent plastic cage(BF) were conducted 3 times. Mean catching number and weight of RFN were 71.7 ind.(18.3%) and 16.9kg(64.3%), and those of BF were 93.0 ind.(23.1%) and 19.8kg(64.5%), respectively.

In order to evaluate the biodegradability of bait used in the pot for swimming crab, water tank experiments were conducted. Mackerel is the most commonly used natural form of bait to catch the swimming crabs, and therefore was used in this experiment for the biodegradability according to the manufacturing process of the bait. From the biodegradability test on chemical oxygen demand(COD), total nitrogen(T - N), total phosphorus(T - P), ammoniac nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen per unit weight of the bait based on the production rate and the accumulated amount of pollutants, it was concluded that the smaller the size of the mackerel pieces, the higher the production rate and accumulated amount of organic matter and nutrients which was unfavorable to water pollution. The amount of pollutants released from the intestine of the tuna was similar with that from the whole mackerel. For the operation period of 111 days, the accumulated concentrations of tested pollutants from the tuna which were 67.3 mgCOD/g d, 86.4 mgT N/g d, 3.1 mgT - P/g d, were almost half comparing with those from the mackerel which were 65.7 - 94.4 mgCOD/g d, 83.8 - 109.4 mgT - N/g d, 3.1 - 5.2 mgT - P/g d. The amount of pollutants released from the intestine of the tuna was slightly less than that from the mackerel that was cut into 8 pieces. but more than that from the mackerel which was not cut into pieces. Therefore, it can be concluded that the key factor in determining water pollution potential is not the kind of bait, but the processing or preparation method used.